Question

State the laws of hereditary transmission.

Answer 1

The basic laws of hereditary transmission were discovered by Gregor Mendel, known as the father of genetics. These laws explain how traits are passed from parents to offspring through genes. The main laws are:

1. Law of Dominance: When two different alleles (forms of a gene) are present, one may be dominant and expressed, while the other, the recessive one, is masked. For example, if a child inherits both tall and short height genes, but appears tall, then the tall gene is dominant.
2. Law of Segregation: Each individual has two alleles for each trait, but during the formation of gametes (sperm or egg), these alleles separate or segregate. Each gamete receives only one allele for each trait.
3. Law of Independent Assortment: Genes for different traits are inherited independently of each other. The inheritance of one trait (like eye color) does not affect the inheritance of another (like height), if the genes are on different chromosomes.